DECISION

09.19.11

Court Rules Padilla’s Sentence Too Short

Alan Diaz / AP Photo

Jose Padilla’s 17-year prison sentence has been ruled too short by a federal appeals court in Atlanta. Padilla was arrested in 2002 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on suspicion of trying to set off a dirty bomb. In 2007, he was convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people in a foreign country, and was sentenced to 17 years and 4 months. Judge Marcia G. Cooke, who handed down the sentence, said that while she understood the gravity of his crimes, there was no evidence linking him to specific acts of terrorism. Padilla’s case will now return to a lower court for a new sentencing hearing.